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While I was bored I was scrolling through Instagram and realized that there was many other things that I could do to be more active such as playing basketball outside, hanging out with friends, going on a run or engaging in many other activities to do for pleasure. While I do realize that social media is a place some can express themselves or use to chat with friends it is nice to take a break from it all every once in awhile. Which is exactly what I did. I then deleted both Instagram and Snapchat (my social media apps).

I recorded how each day felt without social media. It could either make me feel more relaxed and less stressed out – not having the pressure to be on Instagram or Snapchat or it could make me feel more stressed out not being able to access social media. Only one way to find out.

Day one (Sunday): Today I deleted Instagram and Snapchat. It feels a bit hard to resist. I feel like I have grown fond of using Instagram to edit my photos (just as some information to clear everything up, I’m a photographer so my Instagram account is just of my photography). It also feels a bit weird not posting, which I do every night, but it’s something that I hope to adjust to. My goal is by the end of the fourth day to have myself become more relaxed and someone who is more motivated to go outside more so I guess I’m going to have to adjust with resisting the temptation. It’s almost the end of the day and I think I will sleep better with having no social media apps to scroll through keeping me up at night. When I told my friends about what I’m doing one responded saying: “I’ve already deleted those and my life is pretty darned good.” Hopefully she is right and this will go well, but who knows? Maybe I’ll regret deleting social media or maybe I’ll love it.

Day two (Monday): After school it felt weird to check my phone because usually I have notifications on Instagram but this time when I checked on my phone it felt a bit peculiar to not have any notifications. When I got home I was going to edit my photos on Instagram because of the filters Instagram has, but then I realised, oh wait… I don’t have Instagram anymore. Snapchat doesn’t feel as big as a problem so based off of whether or not I still feel like I’m not missing it much, I may not get Snapchat back. One of the pros of not having those social media apps is that it clears up so much storage. There was always an app called “Lightroom” that I have always wanted to use but it took up so much storage that I couldn’t get it but because I have more storage, I was finally able to download it and I used it on some of my photos and it really worked.

Day three (Tuesday): Last night I fell asleep around the same time I normally do. It felt as it felt yesterday with not having notifications from Snapchat or Instagram but this time it did not feel as weird because I’m used to it by now. I still do miss a bit using Instagram as a second editing tool and Snapchat to contact some of my friends, but tomorrow is the final day without it so let’s just see how it goes and whether or not I still miss social media.

Day four (Wednesday): Last night I slept around the same time still. The one thing that I am definitely not excited for with getting social media back would be maybe always being on it. Now that I have done this, I feel that I definitely would not be on social media as much. Unfortunately it will also take up storage which pretty much everyone likes to have. I do still miss Instagram because sometimes I want to see what celebrities like Finn Wolfhard or Tom Holland posts. Today was my last day without social media.

Overview: So at first it felt weird not having notifications from Snapchat and Instagram but after a couple of days I got used to it. Although leaving social media had its disadvantages, like not having a second editing tool, communicating with some friends and seeing what is going on, there was some advantages. Some advantages: sleeping a bit better, more storage, and just not being able to become distracted. I do still want Instagram and Snapchat back, but know it won’t feel as addictive now that I have taken a break from social media. It was honestly very nice to just take a break from those kinds of apps and I would definitely recommend trying. Maybe I will do this again later in the future but for a longer amount of time. Hopefully you become motivated to take a break from social media. I know I have said this multiple times, but it does really help with controlling the amount of screen time.